Machine for packing cans and the like



Oct. 24, 1950 T. GoRMAN, JR i MACHINE FOR PACKING cANs AND THE LIKE Oct. 24, 1950 r. GoRMAN, JR 2,527,252

MACHINE FoR PACKING cANs AND THE LIKE Filed Jima 25, 194e 8 sheets-sheet 2 Q INVENToR.

fr! fr Oct. 24, l1950 T. GoRMAN, Jl

MACHINE FORl PACKING CANS AND THE LIKE Filed June 25, 194e 8 Sheets-Sheet 3 Q INVENTOR.

#Hun-r4,

mgm

Oct. 24, 1950 T. GORMAN, JR

NACHI-NE Non PACKING cANs AND THE LIKE 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 25, 1946 Oct. 24, 1950 T. GoRMAN, JR

MACHINE EoR PACKING cANs AND THE LIKE Filed June 25, 1946 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 JNVENToR.

fin/ f@ TezmmgY.

I I .lill

Oct. 24, 1950 l T. GORMAN, JR

MACHINE FOR PACKING cANs AND THE LIKE Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed June 25, 1946 "www -N Nimurm Oct. 24, 1950 T. GoRMAN, JR

MACHINE FOR PACKING CANS AND THE LIKE 8 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed June 25, 1946 y INVLWTOR. 140W MAX@ BY @a Oct. 24, 1950 T. GoRMAN, JR

MACHINE FOR PACKING CANS AND THE LIKE 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed June 25, 1946 WHIM Nimh INVENToz.'

Patented oct. 24, 195o Y UNITED STATES PATE-Nr-oFFlc-E MACHINE Fon PACKING CANs AND THE LIKE Thomas Gorman, Jr., Newark, N.`J. l y y I Application June 25, 1946, Serial No. 679,056

The characteristic of the present invention is the provision of an automatic machine which will receive cans containing any desired material, which `will assemble a desired number at a re- .ceiving station, which will transfer the cans to vthe station at, which they are received by a vertically moved inverted `open container. or box, whereupon the `inverted but illled box` will be 4moved to uprightposition Vand transferred to a sealing and shippingstation.

The specic object ofthe invention will apfpear in the following specification,V in which reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, in which: 1 n

Fig. 1 is a general assembly, in side elevation, of the can packing machine.

Fig. 2 is van enlarged transverse sectional elevation taken Acentrally of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 lis a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the star-shaped member raised in non-operating poy anism used for delivering the-filled corrugated paper containers from the machine to the ship- Aping station; q i f Fig. 5 is a detail viewshowing the filled container delivery means in operation-and before a container has been turned finally to upright position; .Y

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing the `position of the ller container delivery means at the point whereY a container is dropped onto the delivery belt; Fig. '7 is a transverse `vertical section taken on the line 1--1 Fig. 4; l

Fig. 8 is a cross-section through the gear box showing the-set of gears used tovoperategthe ma- '.chine and the Geneva motion gears for timing "the delivery` and packing of the cans;

Fig. 9 is a plan showingone of the star-shaped members and in dotted lines cans in their move- `ment toward the same;

,f. Fig. 10 is a viewsimilar toFig. 9, illustrating gathers the canstogether;

Fig. 11 is showing the position of four cans gathered by the star-shaped member ready for Fig. 13 is a schematic view of thepartition feed can and its pusher blades, the latter being section and indown position;

3 claims; (ci.l 226-15) V l the manner in which the star-shaped memberl Fig. `l4 is a view similarto Fig. 13 with the pusher blades in up position;

Fig. 15 is a fragmentary View in elevation'showing the clearances inthe cross members 90 for the pusher yoke bari-and Fig. 16 is a top plan View 0f the structure shown inf-Fig.15. v,

1 Referring to Fig.V 1, vnumeral 20 designates the packing machineproper, while 2l vis one of the upper transverse members of the frame, which includesv a pair of gupright; members, 22 and 23. The uprightmemb ers 22 and 23 supportv two parallel longitudinal channel members 24, each of which has twoelon'gated slots 24a. A table 2 5 is supported upon legs 26; while a pair Iof tubular members.v 21 and 28are` held-Y; on'either-side of the frame 2|.` v l f Belt drum-vsupportingcastings 29-and 3|] are positioned at eachwend ofthe machine and a belt table 3| is secured to casting 30 and to vertical support`30x. A pair o'f drive pulleys 32 and 33 are rotatively mounted upon the castings 29 and 30, andan endless belt 34 is horizontally movable through the rotationof the said'pulleys.

To operate' the belt, a `pulley 32 is rotated rthrough the medium of an electric motor M and gear reduction box 35 which, by means of a suitable drive rpulley,"'and belt A367 drives pulley 31 on shaft 38, which in turn 'is keyed to the pulley 32.

An additional pulley 39 is driven through a belt v40- from the'fgearbox 35v and is secured to a shaft 4lv which operates a Geneva motion box 42. A pair of secondary shafts 43 and 44 extend outwardly Vfrom the 'Geneva motion vbox and are secured to pulleys :45 and 46. The pulley 45 oper- Aates a belt 441'leadingcto a pulley-1l on vertical lshaft 48, while vpulley 46 operates a belt 56 to turn azpulley 5I." -The pulley'5l isA secured to a shaft 52,-'and Vanotherb`elt'53 is' utilized to rotate pulley 54clockwise and 55 counter-clockwise. :Ashaftfl extends 'outwardly from the Geneva box 42, and reciprocatesa link 59 by means of a leverl 58, .the link transmitting motion to a rock arm 60,' pivoted at 14 on upright 3|. The rock arm 60 operates a shaft 48 in a vertical direction.

The corrugated'paper partitions P are stacked vertically upon thehorizontal members 24 and are delivered to the machine automatically. To make' this possible, one end of a flexible cable is secured t a wheeled abutment 63 and the other end'suppbrtsa counterweight 66, which hangs"within-the tubular member 21, whilea secondary flexible cableil has one end secured to a wheeledabutment `EZand the'othersupports ai 'counter-,weight 68 `within the tubular member 28. The wheels of v.these abutments ride in the channels of members 24. Both cables 65 and 61 run over pulleys 69 and 10 and the action of said counterweights, 66 and 68, moves the wheeled abutments 62 and 63 in horizontal directions toward each other to feed the partitions toward pusher blades.

The pusher blades are shown at |50 in Figs. 13, 14 and 15. They are carried in spaced relationship by a yoke arm |5| carried at the upper end of a rod |52 at the lower end of which is a roller |53 which rides on the periphery of a heart cam |54 on shaft 81. Thus 'inlast rotation of shaft 81 the pusher blades have a down l active movementl followed by an up movement and a dwell. In each down movement the blades push down the two innermost partitions at the center of the stack of partitions? into register with rotating feed rollers.

The corrugated partitions P are' picked by the rotating rollers 85 and 86, are fed down through shaping plates and are dropped between the cans C as now to be described. The wheeled abutments 62 and 63 keep rthe stacked corrugated paper partitions in upright position at all times.

Referring to Fig. 2, the upright shaft 48 has at its lower end a star-shaped member 49. At its upper end, shaft 48 is secured to a pulley 1|, 'which is rotated by means of the belt 41 from the intermittent or Geneva drive as hereinbefore pointed out. The belt 41 is carried over idlers 12 and 13, which are rotatively mounted upon the upright 6|. The rock lever 60 is operated by means of the linkV 59- and` thev rock lever also operates a link 11 connected to a lever 18 on a shaft 19 held in bearing boss 80 that is fastened to a cross-piece 8|'. Shaft 19. carries an arm 82, having a pusher 83, which carries at ,its forward end arubber plate 84. 1' Theset of partition 'feed rollers 85 and 86 are secured upon shafts 81 and 88 respectively -and are operated by means of the pulleys 54 and 55 and the belt connection 53 (Fig. 1). The roller 85 turns clockwise while the roller 86 turns counter-clockwise. Sets of partition shaping plates 88a (Fig. 2) serve to guide and curve the corrugated paper sheets Pv from the upper portion of the machine, where they are stacked, and to guide the partitions above and in register with spaces between the cans C into which spaces the partitions are dropped at the proper time.

The upright shaft 48 is slidably movable within a bearing 89, which is secured by means of the cross-members 90, and the rock arm 60 has at one end a slotted member 9|. The upright shaft 48 has a collar 92 with a pin 93, the latter itering the slotted portion 9| of the fulcrufn The corrugated boxes are 'fed to 'and lin 'a direction transversely of belt 34 by means of "a reciprocating bar 94 (see Fig."1) having feed pawls 94x. The boxes are supported by angle bars 95 and are guided by the arms 96 and 91 which are supplied with a number of springlike appendages 98, the latter serving to support the corrugated boxes B above thev cans C (see Figs. 2 and 4). The containers B are placed over the cans C by means of the flexible fingers 99 which are secured to vertically movable bars |00. The bars |00 are operated in a'vertical direction by'means of cams |0.| and rollers |02 (Fig. l), and the cams are `rotatedby a shaft |03 which is operated by the motor M and :gear

Varm |0| operates the'bar59. the Geneva box will be Adescribed hereinafter."

4 reduction box 35. The upright bars |00 are supported by cross-members |04 and |05, respectively.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 4, 5 and 6, they illustrate the operation of the box delivery assembly which consists in the main of a drive shaft 52 which is driven by means of pulley 5| and belt 50. (see Fig. 1). Ancam member |01 is keyed to the shaft 52.1 rllhe cam |01 has four working surfaces |08, and four cam depressions |09. A roller ||0 is secured to a reciprocation plunger which is slidably held within the bearing ||2."' The plunger extends beyond the' bearing ||2 and at 3 is secured to a lever ||4 that is hingably held at ||5. From Fig. 5 it can be seen that the delivery device |06 consistsfof four-'portions ||6, ||1, ||8 and H9, each of which consists of a set of holding clamps |20 that are hingeably, held at the four hinge portions 2|, |22, |23 and |24, respectively.

lThreelinks `|25', |26 and I Z'Tare'attached t0 the holding clamps in such a'manner as to operate all four' clamps simultaneously. To facilitate the 'r'emovalof the cartons from the filling machine the' delivery device |06 is Suppliedwith V four pairs ofpick-up arms, |28, |29, |30 and |3I which 'are held on a square bushing |3|a, the latteribeing keyedlto the shaft :52.

AReferring-'rte the* star-shaped 1 member 48 (Fig. 9), it consists of a plate which has four round shaped cut outs at |33', |34,A |35 and |36, and four outwardly extending portions, |31, |38, |39 and |40.- The starl-shaped member 49 isI intermittently rotated by the upright shaft 48 which by means of the pulley 1| and the 'belt' 41 is driven from the Geneva motlonbox 4 2. l

The Geneva motion b ox 4.2 (see Fig. 8) is supplied with a AGeneva gear |4| which is keyed 'to a shaft |42, the latterrotating the pulley 45 which operates the'belt 41. TheGeneva gear |4| is intermittently'rotated bythe rollerarm |42 which in turn is rotated by the shaft |44 andthe large gear |45.` The 'gear |45 'is `turned by the small spur gear |46 whichI is'keyed to the shaft |41, the latter carrying "a cam-'shaped member '|48.

The shaft |41 is secured'to a large gear |49 which is enmeshed ,with a small spur gear |50 which 1s keyed to the operating shaft |5I. The operating -belt 40`which is op'erated'by the gear box 45 (see Fig. l).

Referring to the'cam |48, it operates-a camarm |55 which has a cam roller |56. The cam arm |55 is under the tension of a spring |51 which is secured between a .pin V1| 5i8'upon the cam arm =|55, and a bushing |59 held in the bottom of the Geneva box`42. The cam arm |55 is keyed to'a shaft |60 which carries a fulcrum arm |6| located on 'the outsideofthe Geneva box. The fulcrum rIhe operation of Operation F20 as from a-can filling and closing machinffnot shown). The endless belt 34 is driven byme'ahs of the pulleys 32 and 33"which are" rotated bythe ated from the gear box-35. 'f -ff' each is forced, due to the motion of the endless belt 34 and lthe intermittent motion of the star collector 49 to enter one ofthe cut-outs thereof. The star collector 49 isV secured to the upright shaft 48.` which is intermittently rotated by means of the Geneva gear |4| which-is contained within the Geneva-,box42 .(seeFig-8). ,The Geneva gear |4| iskeyedv on the shaft |42 andoperates a pulley -45 which rotates the upright shaft 48` through thermedium of the belt'41 and apulley 13|- whiclif is secured to the shaft'48. The intermittent motion-of the feed belt34 is timedwith the rotation of the star-shaped member 49 in such a manner as to deliver one can at atime for each one-quarter rotation of the member 49. rIherefore, it can be seen that for one complete rotation of the star-shaped member 49vfour cans can be gathered upon the gathering table 25.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 8, it will be seen that the large gear |49 of the Geneva box 42 is supplied with a cam |48 which operates a cam arm |55. For one complete rotation of the cam |48 the cam arm |55 will, by means of the cam roller |56, swing the arm |8| out and then in and will in turn operate the rod 59. The rod 59 is connected to the rock arm 60 which is swung in such a manner as to raise the star-shaped member 49 every time the cam |48 completes a complete revolution. The gear reduction within the Genevabox 42 is such as to rotate the Geneva gear |4| one revolution for each revolution of the cam |48; therefore, every time the star-shaped member 49 gathers four cans upon the gathering table 25, the member 49 is raised above the cans upon the gathering table and to allow the latter to be moved from their original position upon the gathering table 25, to the packing station,

Preliminary to the movement of the cans from their gathering position to the packing position, a pair of flat corrugated sheets are curved and dropped between every two cans. This operation is being accomplished through operation of the pusher blades, the rotation of the feed rollers 85 and 86 which are rotated in opposite directions by means of the 8-shaped belt 85a and the action of the curving or forming plates heretofore described. The rollers 85 and 86 are driven by the pulleys 54 and 55 and the belt 53 which is operated from the gear box 35.

The cans C are moved into the packing station by means of the arm 82 which is pivotally secured to the shaft |9; the arm |82 is operated by means of the link 11 which is secured to the levers 16 and 18.

It will be seen from Fig. 1 that for every operation of the rock arm 80 the star collector 49 will be raised and the pusher 83 will be operated. This operation will move the cans from their original position upon the table to the packing station. When this operation has been completed the arm 82 returns to its original starting position and the star-shaped member 49 is lowered to facilitate further gathering of the cans on the gathering table 25.

Immediately upon the delivery of the cans from the gathering position to the packing station, the foremost corrugated container B, which originally is held suspended over the cans, is low- `ered through the operation of the Yvertical rods |00, which are operated through the cams IIJI and cam rollers |02. The cams |0| are rotated moving eli-.i234 they are brought to the'gathering tabIe25-fandt tyf-rrians-offtuefshaft msrwhich 1eads from' the gear box 35. The cams 'lill-.are turned one revoluti'r'rfor each packing 'operation andf` facilitate the-"delivery of one Acontainer at a timefor'each four `ca'r1sjthat arev delivered to the packing stati'ny f 'After the operationof lowering the corrugated container over the'top'ofvthe cans C hasV been completed-"the appropriate holding finger `|20 of the delivery device H6 descends upon the container Bto hold thev latter in position while the delivery device rotates degrees. The said appropriate holding fingerV 4|20 holds the'carton upon the delivery device IIB so that it will not overturn while it- `isi delivered from the packing station` tothe vshipping position' of the machine. As the'd'elivery device v|`| 'turns around, theroller I| 0 will ride over the cam surface |08 of the cam |01 and will operate the holding fingers |20 by means of the fulcrum ||4 which is hinged at H5. Further rotation of the delivery device ||6 will allow the roller 0 to ride into a depression |09 of the cam |01 and force the holding fingers |720 to return to the original upright position, as shown in Fig. 6. After the container has been turned from its original upside position to the upright position shown in Fig. 6, the

belt 34 picks it up and delivers it to the shipping station at the end of the machine, shown in dotted lines.

The description of operation of the delivery device I 6 illustrates the manner in which one container is transferred from its packing position to the shipping station. The same operation repeats itself for every new carton delivered to the machine. The delivery of the cans to the machine is fully automatic, likewise the gathering of the cans upon the gathering table, their delivery to the packing position, and from there on to a shipping position.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. In a machine for packing cans the combination with a feed for filled cans, of a rotary collector adapted to collect from the feed a plurality of cans in laterally spaced position, means for retracting the collector, means for feeding partition members intermediate the said assembled cans, means for feeding inverted open boxes, means for mutually moving said assembled cans and one of the boxes to enclose the cans therein, and means for inverting the thus filled box, in combination with a swinging pusher member for moving the assembled cans to a box receiving station upon retraction of the collector.

2. In a machine for packing cans the combil nation with a feed for filled cans, of a rotary lcollector adapted to collect from the feed a plurality of cans in laterally spaced position, means for retracting the collector, means for feeding partition members intermediate the saidr assembled cans, means for feeding inverted open boxes, means for mutually moving said assembled cans and one of the boxes to enclose the cans therein, and means for inverting the thus filled box, the box inverting means consisting of a rotary member having a plurality of table-like supports, said member being movable to carry the supports successively to horizontal, Vposition .thereby forming a box receiving station, and

thence movable to and past vertical position to reverse the position of a box thereon, andv autokmatic clamping yand releasing members carried bythe inverter for the boxes. Y

3. -In -a machine for packing cans the combina.; tion with a feed for lled cans, of a rotary collector adapted to collect from the feed a plurality of cans in laterally spaced position, means for retracting the collector, ymeans for feeding partition lmembers intermediate the said assembled cans, means for feeding inverted open boxes, means for mutually moving :said assembled cans and one of the boxes to -enclose the cans therein, and means for inverting the thus lled box, in which vthe means for feeding inverted boxes consists of a guideway, a reciprocatory pawl device adapted to move. the boxes step by step and in which the means for mutually moving the assembled cans rand one ofthe boxes 8i toenclose-fthe cans therein consists of a box holding clamp devicenormally heldy above the assembled/cans, and means for actuating the clamp device for lowering the box upon said assembled cans.

THOMAS GORMAN, Jn.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the Ille of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Y 1,243,406 Hawthorne Oct. 16, 1917 15 1,950,370 Mudd Mar. 6, 1934 2,254,097 Wood Aug. 26, 1941 

